BY ALFONSO CHARDY

 Cuban exile leaders on Thursday welcomed the delay in enforcing the order to
 surrender Elian Gonzalez, but vowed to remain on alert because they fear that a
 federal raid to seize the boy could come at any moment.

 ``It's good implementation of the deadline has been postponed, but we remain
 very skeptical of anything coming from the Clinton administration,'' said Jose
 Basulto of Brothers to the Rescue.

 Ramon Saul Sanchez, Democracy Movement leader and prime mover of street
 protests, thanked God for the delay.

 ``We hope God keeps working on this,'' Sanchez said.

 Sanchez and Basulto were among thousands of Cuban Americans who flocked to
 the Little Havana home of Elian's Miami relatives as the boy's great-uncle Lazaro
 Gonzalez defied the order to turn over the boy by 2 p.m. Thursday.

 BROADER STRUGGLE

 Exile leaders have rallied behind Elian's Miami family in part because they view
 their fight to keep the boy here as part of the broader anti-Castro struggle. That's
 also why leaders like Basulto complain about the ``traitorous behavior'' of the
 administration.

 ``This is not the first time our community has been betrayed,'' Basulto said,
 pointing to the events of Feb. 24, 1996, when Cuban MiGs shot down two
 Brothers to the Rescue Cessnas near Cuban airspace.

 Speaking from his cellular phone from inside the house where Elian is staying,
 Basulto repeated his standing accusations that the MiGs attacked the Brothers
 planes with the Clinton administration's knowledge, consent and cooperation. The
 administration has rejected Basulto's accusations.

 Other exile leaders, meanwhile, took to the airwaves. Ninoska Perez of the Cuban
 American National Foundation appeared on CNN's Talkback Live to defend
 Lazaro's decision.

 Instead of listening only to the father, Perez said, Americans should also heed
 the wishes of his 6-year-old son. As Perez spoke, CNN played a videotape of
 Elian saying he doesn't want to go back to Cuba.

 RADIO CALLS

 Throughout the day, Spanish-language radio stations fielded calls from exiles who
 expressed horror about the prospect of sending Elian back to the place from
 which they fled.

 Radio Mambi's Armando Perez Roura said the station received about 1,000 calls
 by noon.

 ``We are not going to abandon Lazaro Gonzalez,'' Perez Roura said. ``All the
 exile groups are behind him. We are all by his side. We are fighting for justice for
 Elian, that the family is heard in court, not for a transition.'' By the end of the day,
 some exile organizations breathed a sigh of relief.

 ``After all the rhetoric and speculation about the reaction of the community in
 general and Cuban Americans in particular, what we had was an overwhelming
 show of support for the family that was peaceful, orderly and heartfelt,'' said
 Lourdes Cue, executive director of the group Facts About Cuban Exiles.

 Herald staff writers Eunice Ponce, Ivette M. Yee and Sandra Marquez Garcia
 contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald